Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance
by The First Sight
Summary: Wow... the THREEquel to Children of the Mirror...
1. Chapter 1

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...First Part: Krad...

I believe I owe it to Kosuke Niwa that I am able to stay with Dark. I've learned that, coming from neither of the previously warring families of the Hikari or Niwa, he has incredible insight and a forgiving nature that often puzzles me. It was he who kept Emiko and Daikii Niwa from killing me on the spot when Dark brought me... home...

Dark, regrettably, had to carry me back, which damaged my pride a bit once I got to thinking about it, but for the moments in Dark's arms, I was too busy feeling like an idiot to notice how much weaker I'd gotten. Later, I was also amazed to realize that the thief actually had carried me all that way.

It was December 30th, and after about five days of being with Dark, we had more or less reverted back to how we'd been in the world of the Mirror of Dreams and the Black Wings.

That was quite entertaining, really, when either Emiko or Daikii were around – especially Emiko.

"Hey, Krad!" Dark greeted me after coming back from running some sort of miscellaneous errand that he failed to tell me about. He hung up his coat and, tracking muddy, melting snow across the floor with his shoes, grabbed me around the waist and kissed me full on the mouth, making quite a display for Emiko, who had just happened to be walking by at that moment.

"DARK! St –"

"Emiko?" Kosuke called just then from another room, pausing her outburst. "Could you come here for a minute?"

Glaring directly at me, she walked away to find her husband, and once she was gone, both Dark and I began to laugh.

"You're actually kind of fun to be around when you get your way," Dark remarked.

I looked at him skeptically for a moment, unable to hide the grin that pulled at my lips. "You wouldn't have thought so, a few years ago."

Dark shrugged. "You didn't exactly want the same kinds of things, then," he pointed out.

"I wanted my own body, mostly," I recalled.

"The most _I_ remember is you trying to get rid of me," Dark argued.

I shoved at his shoulder disapprovingly. "Well, now I most certainly do not." A smile slipped easily onto my face again – which felt somewhat unusual. "And I am completely me, now." I spread my arms in show. "So nothing of what happened then matters anymore."

Dark was looking at me strangely. It was kind of an amused and thoughtful look, simultaneously.

"What?" I suddenly was beginning to feel a little self-conscious.

"Nothing. I just like it when you smile," he said.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're such a cliché, Dark."

"What's wrong with that?" Dark said defensively. "Are you saying I can't appreciate you?"

"No!" I said fiercely, starling myself. "Of course you can appreciate me," I added, lowering the volume of my voice again. "Just don't look at me like that."

"Fair enough," Dark said, shrugging again. He smirked widely. "As long as I can still kiss on you, I'll be fine." Saying that, he practically attacked me, kissing my face all over and laughing.

"Dark! Stop it alre – _aah_!!" I don't know what I tripped over, but I fell backward, landing on the couch in a somewhat awkward way.

Dark laughed harder and I kicked his leg.

"Oh, be quiet. That was hardly _that_ amusing."

"So you admit that it _was_ amusing," Dark tried to turn my words against me.

I growled at him under my breath and got up, brushing past him to the door. I grabbed a coat I'd just recently acquired and put it on.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called after me, running to snatch up his coat again, as well.

"I don't know."

Dark, grinning in a you-are-so-predictable sort of way, followed me outside.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

I really _did_ think I was done before, but after it was brought up, I got to thinking and... Now here's a threequel for you all! I just couldn't resist...


	2. Chapter 2

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Second Part: Dark...

Well, there we were, standing in the snow together. I had long decided that it was just so much easier to forget any hostility we may have ever had in the past and give in to the love I'd developed for Krad. Centuries wasted, and all it would have taken to fix it was getting sealed for a few years – or however long it was that we had been in there.

"It's beautiful," Krad said quietly after a while of silence.

"What is?" I wondered.

"The snow..." Krad held his hand palm-up to catch some of the drifting flakes and examine them more closely.

"Yeah," I considered, looking at him and the white scene that swirled all around him. "It is, isn't it?"

A smile graced Krad's lips again. I couldn't get over the amazement I felt when he smiled like that – it was a look that I couldn't even really remember seeing in the Mirror world. There had always been that urgency in the background of our lives there, but now it was only us, and we had nothing more to deal with _except_ us.

And, yeah – Krad and I being an 'us' was still a little odd when I thought about it for a while, but I easily overcame that weirdness every time I looked at him.

Everything that was me melted when Krad smiled like that.

"Dark," he said, transforming the smile into a warning glance. "I told you not to look at me like that."

"Sorry," I muttered. Then an idea crossed me and I headed off toward the garage. "How would you like to take a ride on my motorcycle?" I suggested.

"In the snow?" Krad looked a bit skeptical, but followed me anyway.

Generally people would bring their motorbikes out in the summer, but I had just gotten mine within the month, and I wanted to ride it.

"Why not?" I shrugged and got it out onto the driveway before gesturing for him to climb on behind me. "Just remember to keep your hair tucked inside your jacket," I reminded him, smirking.

Krad scowled at me a bit for bringing that whole issue up again, but I felt I had to. I didn't blame him anymore for totaling my bike in the other world, now that I had a new one, but I still didn't want him dashing out into the middle of any potentially dangerous streets to retrieve the trinket that usually adorned his long hair.

So, with said hair safely hidden down the back of his coat, Krad straddled the bike behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I took off down the road with nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there, feeling pretty content. That is – until I nearly ran over a certain cute brunette girl, who just happened to be the youngest in a set of twins. Then... I wasn't so content anymore, to put it lightly.

I guess I still held a grudge with Risa, for going out with the Commander, also known as Satoshi Hiwatari – or Hikari, depending on _how_ exactly you knew him.

"Jeez, Risa! Watch where you're going!" I shouted at her.

"Dark...!?" She scooted over to the side of the road, but stepped closer to get a better look at me. I hadn't realized it before, but Risa apparently hadn't known yet that I was back.

"Yeah..."

"You're back!" Risa exclaimed.

I laughed slightly. "I've realized that, thanks – and now I'm moving on again," I told her. "Bye."

"Wait – Hey, who do you have with you?"

Did I seriously detect a hint of jealousy in her voice?

Payback time, I thought. The smirk that already possessed my face spread wider with satisfaction. I twisted around to slip my arm around Krad's shoulders. "Just my long-lost boyfriend," I answered her. Luckily, Krad hadn't quite released my waist amidst mine and Risa's sort little conversation.

Risa's face was priceless. "B... _boy_friend!?" she echoed disbelievingly. "But –"

"Is there a problem?" I interrupted her. "Even the great Phantom Thief can change his sexual preferences," I pointed out. It took all I had not to break out into a hysterical fit of laughter. Seeing that Krad was also looking amused rather than annoyed, I decided to take my confession to the girl just a bit further. I kissed Krad's gorgeous lips briefly and turned back to Risa. "I thought you were with Hiwatari now, anyway."

Risa was completely dumbfounded. "... _Boyfriend_?" she managed to say again.

"Yes. I have a boyfriend," I repeated. Krad still wasn't objecting, which made me feel great. "This is Krad," I introduced him finally, since she didn't appear to be catching on, still stuck on that word: boyfriend.

The level of shock in her increased. "But –"

"See you around, Risa," I said, turning forward again and giving her a curt wave before riding off again.

"That was cruel, Mousy." I could tell by the tone of Krad's voice that he was grinning. "I'm rather impressed."

"I thought you might be," I said.

"You must really be jealous of Satoshi," he commented next. I had a hard time reading the expression in his voice that time.

I thought a while before admitting, "I was, a little – but that was way too funny," I added. "You make up for it all a-hundred-and-ten percent."

"That's good to know," Krad said, and I felt his head rest against my shoulder-blades.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Third Part: Dark...

We stopped at the main park in Azumano – that one with the huge fountain – and walked through knee-deep snow to the cliff that overlooked the ocean. Krad leaned on the rather short barrier that prevented kids from falling over the edge and looked out at the horizon. I watched him for a while; watched as strands of his hair were blown to one side by the light breeze.

I could understand Krad's fascination with such random things such as the snow or the ocean – the vast span of saltwater that, no matter how cold it got up here on land, wouldn't freeze over – but to me, these things were all kind of old news. I had already had plenty of time to see these things, and honestly... just staring at them for long periods of time could get pretty boring.

So while Krad spaced out, I left him and went around the park, trying to find something more exciting with which to occupy my time.

Well... my plan really failed on me. Being reunited with what some people could probably call a "soul mate" and get away with it was not something I could venture away from so easily. Apparently, I couldn't just walk away from Krad for a few minutes and do something on my own, so I went back to find him again.

"Where did you run off to?" he wondered once I'd found him again.

I shrugged. "Nowhere in particular. I was just bored."

Krad snorted – yes, he snorted. "Well, you were gone for about a half-hour," he informed me. "_What_ were you doing?"

"I was walking!" I said defensively, feeling a bit awkward. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's not like I was doing anything obscene..."

Krad raised an eyebrow at me in a look that was become more and more frequent as time went on. "That was more than I needed to know." Seriously, he was like an eighth-grader, coming into contact with humanity.

I punched him in the arm. "I was doing just what I said I was doing. Don't be so self-centered." Okay, so that didn't come out exactly right, but I got my point across, and Krad was back to glaring at me because I had probably punched him hard enough to leave a bruise. "And now," I added, kneeling down in the snow, "I'm going to attempt to make a snowman."

There was a pause. "A snowman?" Krad sounded disbelieving. "How adolescent can you possibly be, Mousy?"

"Don't give me that crap," I sniffed. "You were the one misinterpreting things just now." I formed a snowball and began rolling it around in the snow, making it bigger. "So, are you going to help me with this or not?"

"No."

I abandoned what I was doing for a moment to stare up at him. "You're no fun," I sulked.

"And you contradict yourself," Krad responded.

Ignoring him, I rounded out my first snowball and began to make another. Once that one was formed, I stuck it on top of the other one.

"What a crude design," Krad muttered.

I stood up to look him in the face and poked his chest as I spoke. "I don't need any of that Hikari criticism out of you, got it? I'm not an artist – I'm just trying to make the best of having this much snow."

Krad looked a bit stunned. I supposed he had never really thought of himself as a Hikari before. He was never really considered a part of the family, like I was with the Niwas.

"Do you think...?" he wondered aloud, but his voice trailed off before he finished the thought.

"What?"

"I could... create art..." Krad said. He looked like he had just stumbled across an epiphany.

"Probably," I considered, building a head for my snowman.

"Maybe I should... try it..." Krad didn't move, however. He just stood where he was, staring at me as if he needed my permission or something.

Suddenly I had my doubts. If Krad really had inherited Hikari abilities, that might mean trouble if he were to create something – even if it happened to be made of snow.

As I stood there thinking, Krad decided to see if he really could create something beautiful. He knelt down in the snow in front of me and began piling it up. I took a step back to watch him work.

I don't know how long we were there, but it was fascinating to watch Krad as he built what eventually was beginning to somewhat resemble something Greek or Roman – only better. The figure was eventually about our height. It was a young man about our age in looks, as well, and I had to admit: he was... beyond words, really...

The figure was holding something oval-shaped in its arms that I at first couldn't identify. But as more progress was made on it, I began to recognize the shape as a mirror – a broken one.

"Krad..."

He didn't seem to hear me, concentrating heavily on the artwork he was creating. I couldn't tell at all what he was thinking. All I had to go off of was the thing he was making, but even that had too many thoughts within it to decipher.

Finally, when the sun was beginning to set, Krad stepped back from his creation, looking thoroughly exhausted. His golden eyes were half closed, and he swayed slightly.

"Dark..." Krad reached a hand out to me and I stumbled through the snow over to him, making the blood circulate in my legs again. I managed to grab him and pull him into my arms just as he collapsed. "I'm cold," he groaned.

"I believe it," I remarked. Bracing his shoulders with one arm, I reached down swipe his legs up by his knees with my other arm. "We should get you somewhere warm..."

Krad gave a short moan in acknowledgement and tried to pull his sleeves over his hands.

"You should have had gloves," I told him.

"Wouldn't have worked nearly as well," he mumbled.

I didn't trust him to be strong enough to hold onto me if I rode with him on my motorcycle, so I carried him to the nearest open building I saw, which happened to be a little restaurant with jade-green walls and a crackling fireplace.

"Alright, Krad, you're going to have to walk in on your own unless you want to get hit by doors." I set him down, but held him close against me in case he was to fall over again.

A bell chimed as I pushed the door open, and I guided Krad over to one of the tables nearer to the fireplace.

Once Krad sat down, he slumped over the table, hiding his face in his arms, and moaned. His hands looked frozen. Moving my chair closer to him, I sat next to him. I wanted to help warm him up somehow, but I was too cold, myself, to be of much use.

"Good evening, guys," a cheerful girl's voice reached my ears. I looked up from my musings over Krad to see a rather flat-chested girl of about fifteen standing near the table. I hadn't noticed her come up. She was dressed in what I assumed to be a uniform, because the outfit was the same colors as the walls, and she had straight orange hair that was cut to about her jaw on one side and twisted together and tied at the ends over her shoulder on the other side. "Can I get you anything?"

"Uhm..." I looked up at her in puzzlement. "Anything warm," I finally said. I had no idea what they served here.

The girl's narrow eyes showed amusement. "Sure thing." And with that, she headed off, back to the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Fourth Part: Krad...

The waitress who had been talking to Dark earlier came back and tapped me lightly on the shoulder. "You might want to sit up," she told me.

I heaved myself upright and she placed a mug of steaming tea in front of me. I let out a sigh of relief and reached out to grab it. "Thank you," I said, looking up at her for the first time. She was beautiful.

"No problem," she said. "Just give me a shout if you need anything else. My name's Suna."

I watched her walk away, a bit awestruck.

"Krad." Dark was trying to get my attention. "Krad?"

I looked back at him. "Hmm?"

He was smirking at me in an odd sort of way. "You were checking that girl out, weren't you?"

"What?"

"What do you think of that Suna girl?" Dark rephrased.

"She's beautiful," I told him, taking a sip of my tea to warm myself up some more. I was still freezing. And then I caught on to what Dark was talking about. I glared at him and then leaned closer and kissed him. "Get it?" I asked. "Suna is a beautiful girl, but I see her as someone would see a work of art."

Dark laughed and shook his head at me. "You are so strange."

Bells chimed as someone else walked into the restaurant. Dark and I both looked to see who it was.

I thought I recognized her from somewhere... She was the girl who passed by me that one day I was out in the snow...

"Oh, crap!" Dark whispered, ducking low behind me and peering around me to watch the girl that had just come in. "It's my girlfriend!"

I stood up abruptly, and the mug that was still in my hands slipped and spilled tea on the stupid thief's head. "YOUR _WHAT_!?"

"Well, it looks like you've warmed up, now. We should leave," Dark said evasively.

"No way, Mousy! I want an explanation – NOW!" I yelled at him. Dark had a girlfriend? Why did Dark have a girlfriend? But... "Dark!" I couldn't breathe right. I was angry as hell. Maybe even... jealous. I hated to think that, but I was.

Both Suna and the other girl – Akiko – looked over at us in shock.

Akiko's eyes narrowed in puzzlement for a moment, then widened again. "Dark? What's going on?" she wondered, walking over to us.

"Yes, Dark. _What_ exactly?"

Taking a deep breath, Dark got up, combing his fingers through his tea-soaked hair. "Akiko," he said, stepping past me and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "This" – he held his hand out as if to display me – "is Krad." He sighed again and looked at me meaningfully. "He's my boyfriend."

"YOUR _WHAT_?"

Dark cringed.

"My boyfriend," he said again.

That made me calm down a bit, but now he had a new problem.

"Look – it's... complicated," he said.

Akiko smacked his hand away from her shoulder. "So, how long, Dark?" she wondered, glaring up at him.

"About... about a week," he confessed.

"So it's really over, this time," she concluded, brushing some wavy red hair back behind her shoulder and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Damn right it is," I muttered, kicking at Dark's ankle.

"Krad!" Dark hissed.

Akiko turned to leave. "It's my shift now. You better be gone by the time I change," she warned.

Suna laughed from another table across the room, near the doors, where she was watching the whole scene play out. She stood and came over to us. "Come on, guys. Out." She gestured over her shoulder with her thumb, pointing at the doors. "No disturbing my employees; now go."

"You own the place?" Dark asked in disbelief.

"You bet I do." Suna put her hands on her slim hips and looked at us with amused topaz eyes. "Now go on. You've worn out your welcome."

Dark grasped my hand and pulled me from the little restaurant.

"Have a nice night!" Suna called after us. "They're rather comical people," I heard her comment to her friend.

Akiko nearly snorted. "Sure they are. The dark-haired one _used_ to be my boyfriend."

Suna laughed. "So I gathered. I kind of like the blond..."

The door chimed as it swung shut.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Fifth Part: Krad...

"Thanks a lot, Krad!" Dark shouted at me once we were away from the restaurant. "Jeez..."

"None of that was my fault!" I yelled back. "I didn't know about her!"

"You didn't have to overreact about it!"

I shrank back when Dark turned on me, not looking irritated, but actually angry with me.

He just stood there for a while, making himself calm down. "I'm sorry," he said at length. "I thought I wouldn't have to deal with that..."

"You were just going to avoid her for the rest of her life?" I couldn't believe his logic – it was ridiculous!

"Well, yeah. I was."

I shook my head disdainfully at him. "Dark..."

"Don't look at me that way. I have my means of doing things, and you have yours – Akiko wasn't supposed to be back until next week, anyway," Dark told me. "She was off visiting relatives or something."

I suddenly couldn't help laughing at his anger. "Is there anyone else you'd like to tell me about?" I asked. "Anyone else that might need to know about me?"

"Krad, this is not funny!" Dark protested. "It was with Risa, but –"

"You know you'll forget about this soon, Mousy. Don't carry on so." I slid my arm around his waist, holding him against me possessively. "And no matter what other girls come along, remember: you're mine now."

That got at least a snicker out of him. Dark wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we were about to head home – until Dark stopped suddenly.

We looked at each other and the same thought came into our minds, then. We were forgetting something...

"_The motorcycle_!!"

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Just a short one this time!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Sixth Part: Dark...

Thankfully, my bike hadn't been stolen. I was glad of that for multiple reasons – one of them being that Krad would have been sure to think that I was going to blame him again.

And once we got into the house, Krad must have remembered his exhaustion from earlier, because he nearly collapsed again. I carried him into my room, carefully maneuvering his head and legs through the doorway before literally dropping him on the bed.

"Dark!" he protested.

"Hey, be thankful I didn't leave you on the floor," I told him as I walked off to the bathroom to wash the tea out of my hair and change clothes.

When I came back, he asked, "Dark, do you really love me?"

Frowning in confusion, I sat down on the edge of the bed next to his legs. "Yeah. Of course I do. Why would you ask me something like that?" I wondered.

"I don't know," Krad sighed.

"Risa and Akiko are worrying you, aren't they?" I guessed.

Krad didn't respond. He was staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey..." I crawled over him to look him in the face. "I'm sorry about today, okay? But that's all there is. You're the only one left."

Krad's hands wrapped loosely around my wrists. "Okay," was his reply.

I dipped my head down then to kiss him. Krad's lips always felt so soft...

I heard the door-knob click as it turned and Daisuke's voice came no more than a second later. "Dark, there's – ahh!"

I looked over at Daisuke, waiting for him to finish what he was going to say. What I saw, though, was the kid covering his eyes with an arm and backing out of the room again.

"I'm sorry! So sorry! Never mind!"

And the door clicked shut again.

"What was that all about?" Krad wondered.

I shrugged, going in for another kiss. "Who knows?"

"Hmm. He sure disappeared fast. Daisuke usually doesn't do that..." Krad considered. It was true: Daisuke generally just ignored us when we started making out anywhere else. Kissing was kissing no matter what the location. It wasn't anything...

"Oh..." I began to laugh really hard. I got off of Krad and sat on the bed on the opposite side of him that I had previously and kept laughing harder.

"_What_ are you laughing about, Mousy?" Krad demanded. He was completely clueless.

"Daisuke... thought... we were..." I tried to say between laughing spasms.

"What!? – Spit it out, already!" Krad was getting irritated.

Once I had managed to stop the hysterics – which took a while – I finally told him, "If I had to guess, I'd say that Daisuke _probably_ thought we were about to –"

"DARK!!"

"Oh. Damn... I _think_... he just told Emiko..."

"Told her what!?" Krad was going crazy. "_What_ the hell did he _tell her_, Mousy!?"

Getting up, I stumbled across the room. "I need to lock the door!"

"Dark! What are you doing in there!?" Emiko demanded. She pounded on the door. "Open this door _right now_!!"

"One... two..." I counted to myself. On three, I swung the door open and stepped out onto the other side with Emiko, closing it behind me.

"I _demand_ to know –"

"We weren't doing anything in there, Emiko. Relax," I interrupted her.

Krad knocked on the door from the other side. "Dark! What's going on?"

"Don't lie to me, Dark! Daisuke saw you in there!"

"Yeah he did – he saw me kiss him! There was nothing else going on!" I insisted. I was telling the truth – why wouldn't she believe me!? "I think you _want _us to have sex, Emiko!" I accused suddenly. "Just for an excuse to kick Krad out! If it makes you happy, we will, but lay off already! _Leave us alone_!"

I went back into the bedroom and closed the door, leaning on it once it was shut and locked. Emiko was completely silent on the other side, probably exceedingly stunned.

Krad was staring at me with wide golden eyes, looking just as stunned.

"Would you want to...?" he asked eventually, breaking the throbbing silence that hung around the room.

I didn't exactly know how to answer that.

"I... I don't know. Would you?" I wondered.

There was another awkward silence. Krad's lips parted as if he was going to say something, but he didn't. He walked closer to me. I closed the remaining distance, bringing him into my arms and kissing him again. This kiss was different from before. It was deeper, more passionate, more needy.

"Krad," I whispered his name when we paused briefly for air. "...I love you," I told him.

And the next time we needed to breathe, he said, "Prove it."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Seventh Part: Krad...

I provoked him, but I was also the one to stop whatever it was we were about to do.

Dark guided me back to the bed, unfastening the buttons on my shirt as we made our way over there. I fell back onto it and Dark crawled onto the bed on top of me, moving away from my mouth to exploit other places on my body. His lips trailed across my jaw and back toward my ear, where his teeth and tongue joined in, and he kissed his way down my neck to my collarbone. Discovering a particularly sensitive spot in my nervous system at the base of my throat, Dark lingered, sucking and biting at my skin until my lungs stopped working right and my vision couldn't fully focus anymore. My fingers curled into the sheets, but they couldn't stay in one position for more than a few seconds.

Hands shaking, I pulled the hem of Dark's shirt up to touch his heated skin as he rocked our hips together. Then Dark sat up for a moment to pull his shirt off over his head and tossed it haphazardly to the floor, immediately coming back down to kiss my lips again briefly before attacking my bruised neck some more.

I stroked his sides; caressed his shoulders and arms, while his hands explored my body. I felt Dark's lips press against my chin and then he moved down, lower.

I was beginning to have doubts. Serious doubts. I didn't know exactly what it was that I wanted anymore and it was beginning to scare me. And yet, I thought I did want this to happen. I wanted Dark to touch all of me. I wanted to feel his hands on me and his lips... but it was a war within me.

I was a virgin, and I was nervous.

I was aroused, and I wanted Dark.

Part of me wanted to shove him off of me and cower in a dark corner somewhere where nothing could find me.

Another part of me wanted Dark's hands to not be so light against my skin. I wanted to tell him to touch me harder – bruise me from head to toe.

I wanted to scream.

I couldn't decide.

Did I really want this? Did I?

Did I...?

Really...?

Dark's hand slid under the waist of my jeans to caress my hip.

I sat up suddenly – too suddenly; my head swam and my sight blacked out for a moment – and shoved Dark's hand away, scrambling back against the headboard and pulling my knees in up to my chest. My breath came in deep, shuddering pants and I couldn't stop shaking.

"I can't do it," I said, threading my fingers through my hair and holding my head in my hands. "Dark, I can't..."

Anything sexual that might have been in the atmosphere had officially vanished.

Dark made his way across the bed over to me and sat next to me, starting to rub my back soothingly. "Hey... Calm down, alright? Tell me what's wrong – did I do something...?"

I shook my head. "No. You... It's... I just..." I moaned rather pitifully, and Dark wrapped his arm around me, pulling me against his side.

"Talk to me, Krad," he insisted quietly.

I shook my head. I didn't want to tell him.

"Krad... What's wrong?"

"I'm scared, okay!?" I nearly shouted, maneuvering away from him again. "But I want you, Dark..."

I twisted the cross around in my hands until it came off of my hair and snapped the band that held it up, letting the long blond strands fall around me untamed. I was getting sick of the tension in my head that came from the tightly bound ponytail.

"I wanted everything you were doing," I told him. "And I wanted even more. I wanted you to touch me all over and abuse me and make me feel good... but now... I'm not as sure as I was before.... I'm afraid, Dark. I'm afraid I might regret it, or what if something goes wrong, or..."

"You're just not ready yet," Dark said. "I can understand that."

"You can?"

"Of course I can." A half-hearted smirk crossed his features. "And besides, Emiko should be happier for it."

I laughed a little at that, but that also was half-hearted. I felt horrible.

"Do you want me to go sleep on the couch for tonight?" Dark offered, giving me the option of privacy to sort things out.

I declined. "Stay with me. I'll feel better once I get some rest..." I relinquished myself into Dark's embrace after changing out of my jeans and easily fell asleep in his arms.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

You guys _almost _got a lemon, but not quite. There might be one later on in the story. I'm still deciding.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Eighth Part: Dark...

Krad fell asleep almost immediately after he was done freaking out. I didn't blame him – There was a lot that had happened all in one day. Including the creation of some kind of snow masterwork an attempt at first-time sex. It was no wonder Krad's endurance had malfunctioned on him.

I wondered about that sculpture for a while. If Krad had been able to form something that magnificent in a matter of hours with no prior experience – that I knew of, anyway – he was certainly had the Hikari's abilities and what he had made could be potentially dangerous.

"Krad?" No luck. He was out cold.

What was Krad thinking about when he built it? What exactly were all those emotions that I saw in it? I ran my fingers through Krad's hair absently while I thought about it. I watched each deep, slow breath he took. Maybe some kids would knock it down, or it would melt. Then we might have nothing to worry about anymore...

. . .

Daisuke swung open the door to the bedroom and ran into the room, shaking me awake. "Dark! There's something you _really_ need to know - _now_! Come on! Get up!"

I groaned and swatted away Daisuke's hand irately. "Daisuke, do you _know_ what _time_ it is?" I complained.

"It's noon, Dark, jeez," Daisuke informed me. "Now get up."

He looked down warily at me and Krad. We hardly ever slept with shirts on, and the sheets covered us up to our waists. I could tell what the kid was thinking.

I threw the blankets to the side to get up and Daisuke flinched before realizing we were wearing pants. "Did you _really_ think we would?" I asked him, rummaging around my dresser for clean clothes. Once I found some I went back to Krad and brushed some wild long hair back from his face. "Krad, wake up. Apparently, we've got something important going on."

"Well... I mean... you..." Daisuke spluttered. "I thought..."

"We almost did," I explained. "Krad stopped it, though."

"Oh." Daisuke looked puzzled. "I thought he would be more willing than you would be," he considered.

I rolled my eyes at him. "We're not talking about this anymore, Daisuke, got it? I should pummel you for tattling to Emiko last night."

"Sorry, Dark... It just kinda freaked me out..."

"Yeah. We've been getting a lot of that lately," I muttered. I nudged Krad again. "_Wake up_!"

Krad groaned and batted my hand away. "Go away," he complained.

"Stop it," I scolded him. "You're starting to sound like me."

"No I'm not!" he objected. "I am not – _Dark_!!"

I had grabbed his arm while he was talking and I hauled him up.

"Fine! I'm up!" He elbowed me hard in the stomach.

I couldn't breathe for a moment.

Daisuke's eyes followed Krad to the bathroom and he didn't speak again until we heard the water running in the shower. "I guess he's not much of a morning person," he commented.

I swallowed a fit of laughter that was about to come out of me. "He needs his beauty sleep," I joked.

"Anyway..." Daisuke said. "Dark, there's been a whole mass of artworks activating! We don't know where they all are, and Towa's going crazy!"

"Towa already _was _crazy," I told him.

Daisuke frowned at me. "This is serious! First, there's absolutely _no_ activity whatsoever even though you're back, and then suddenly _every_ artwork in _existence_ is going haywire!? That's not exactly _normal_."

"Does anyone know what exactly happened?" I asked.

Daisuke shook his head. "Not a clue."

Krad came back out of the bathroom after a short while, – having complete disregard for Daisuke's presence – waist wrapped in a towel. "Did you take a shower before me?" Krad wondered. "That water is _freezing_..."

"Krad! _Daisuke_ is in here!" I informed him.

He turned from his search of the dresser to look over at the red-head. "Oh. Pardon my state of undress," he said and continued to pull clothes from the unit he was picking through.

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to Daisuke, who shrugged. "I should go," he said and left the room, tripping over nothing in particular and stumbling out the door.

Krad came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my chest. "What was all that about?"

"Artworks," I sighed. "Suddenly, they're everywhere again."

"I take it you'll be busy, then..." Krad kissed my neck softly.

"What? You're not going to try to stop me?"

"I have really no reason to," he said pointedly. "That's Satoshi's problem."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Ninth Part: Dark...

"You know, you could always come with me," I offered, pulling a black sweater on over my head. "Not that I need the help," I added for my pride's sake, "but it would be more fun than hanging around here."

"No, I think I'll stay," Krad declined. "Maybe next time."

"Okay." I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I threw on a jacket and stepped outside. Broad black wings spread from my back, without With's company. It felt good to be able to use my own wings.

Krad followed me out – without shoes, let alone a coat – and grasped my collar in his fists, pulling me in for a very tempting kiss. "See you later, Mousy."

I blinked a couple times to clear my head. "Yeah," I said. Noticing how strangled my voice sounded, I cleared my throat. "See ya."

I caught the satisfied grin that crossed Krad's face before flying off.

"Whoa," I breathed. I shook my head to clear it – I had a job to do.

. . .

The artwork I was looking for this time was simply titled _Gomenasai_. It was a painting, whose soul had been showing up at night to terrorize the arbitrary guard or visitor every now and again. So I had to steal it and seal it before it did any real damage.

When I got to the room the painting was displayed in, I was greeted by a shrill scream. A girl came up to me, seeming to stare at me, although her eyes were gouged out. "_Get it off_!!" she screamed. Blood oozed down her face like tears. Her image flickered and bit by bit there came another girl next to her. The first girl screamed. This second one, I noticed, was now attached to the first by her head. Siamese twins. The first girl pushed at her sister. "_No_!" she cried. "_Get it away_! _What is it_!!?"

This was a good candidate for the most disgusting thing I had ever seen.

The second girl looked to be dead. Her eyes – this one had eyes – were glazed over and her mouth hung open. She was a dead-weight attached to the other girl's head, pulling her down. "_Get it off_!" the first one screamed again. And suddenly the two girls' heads were separated again, but they were bleeding profusely.

The first girl was going to scream again, but I clamped a hand over her mouth. "Stop it! Shhh... Stop screaming. I'll let go if you be quiet... okay?" I reasoned.

The girl nodded.

I knelt down in front of her. "Can you see me?" I wondered.

She nodded again.

"Can you tell me your name? I'd really like to know."

"Meikano," she said quietly.

"Who was that other girl?" I asked.

Meikano shook her head violently. I stopped her, placing my hand over the bloody mess at the back of it.

"You shouldn't do that," I told her, grimacing with disgust that didn't hide itself very easily. "Something important might escape... now who was that girl? Was it your sister?"

"_No_!" she screamed.

"Shhh..." I shushed her again. "Calm down."

"It was hurting me!" she told me, and flung her little arms around my neck. "Help Meikano, Kokuyoku!"

My eyes widened in shock. "How do you know that name?" I wondered, pulling her away from me to look at her again.

She tapped her head with her finger, which was then covered with her blood because of it. "Meikano knows," she told me. "Meikano knows..."

Her form began to flicker again. Her twin was coming back again, if I was right. Meikano started screaming again.

I picked her and her re-attached twin up in my arms and grabbed the painting, ignoring the blood that was soaking into my clothes and the screaming that could very well deafen me, then crashed my way out of the nearest window and flew as fast as I could back home. This particular artwork could be a bigger issue than we thought.

And why hadn't I seen Satoshi in any of this?

Must not be a Hikari work, I concluded.

"Shhh," I tried to calm the girl again once her sister was again a separate being. "I'm taking you home, okay? Don't worry. We'll figure out how to stop that somehow, alright?"

The girl was crying with both blood and tears, now. "Meikano thanks Kokuyoku," she said.

"And stop calling me that," I muttered. "My _name_ is _Dark_."


	10. Chapter 10

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Tenth Part: Krad...

I should have stayed in Dark's room, but I didn't. As my luck would have it – rather, lack thereof – Kosuke had gone out for a while to some library to find some more information on some of the other artworks that Dark would be stealing.

I was sitting on the couch, staring absently in the direction of the Christmas tree that hadn't yet been taken down, until my mind wandered. Inevitably, it wandered to Dark. I thought about the previous night and it stuck in my mind how pathetic I had acted.

"_I blame you – you and your stupid kissing habits."_

I shook _that_ memory out of my head. I tried not to linger on the Mirror too much.

Again, my thoughts strayed back to Dark, himself. I rubbed at my neck, which was thoroughly bruised, along with a few good inches of the left of my collarbone. I had been wearing a turtleneck all day, and although it was cold outside, it didn't necessarily stay that way inside the house. It was getting a little too warm. Maybe Dark could help me take it off later...

"What are you thinking about so intently?" Emiko's voice came up behind me.

I flinched away from her.

"Don't tell me I snuck up on you," she said skeptically. "I didn't think that could work on you."

"Well, it did," I said. "What do you want, Niwa?"

Emiko stared at me and it felt like her eyes were going to bore a hole right through my head. "What exactly did you do last night?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," I objected.

Emiko glared at me. "I have a right to know! I'm Dark's mother!"

"Not technically," I pointed out. "He's not part of your son anymore."

"Don't argue with me, Krad!" I backed away as the woman leaned dangerously closer. "If nothing else, he's my adoptive son – and _don't_ tell me otherwise. _Dark is a Niwa_! And I want to know what _exactly_ went on between you two last night!"

"Dark and I are both a few _centuries_ old, Emiko Niwa! We can do _whatever_ we damn well please – _without_ telling _you_!" I stood up so that I would be taller than her. "And since you can't seem to _accept_ that – or my _relationship_ with Dark," I said, calming my voice considerably, "_I_ am still a _virgin_, if you must know!"

It was somewhat satisfying to see the look of shock on Emiko's face.

At that time, Dark came bursting through the door, holding the painting he was supposed to have gotten and looking very disheveled. He had blood all over one shoulder and on the front of his clothes. He leaned the painting against the wall and stood there for a while, leaning over to prop himself up with his hands on his knees and catch his breath.

I hurried over to him, ahead of Emiko. "What happened to you?" I wondered.

"Dark, are you okay?" Emiko chimed in. "Where did all that blood come from?"

Dark pulled in his wings so that they disappeared completely and stood straight again. "We've got some issues to work out with this one," he said, pointing briefly to the painting.

I saw nothing wrong with the painting. It looked rather ordinary. Just a portrait of two little girls with reddish-brown hair – twins, by the look of it. Each one had an arm wrapped around her sister and their heads were tilted together. They were even smiling. I looked at it more closely and could still find nothing extraordinary about it. It stumped me.

"What kind of issues?" I wondered.

A gut-wrenching shriek came from out of nowhere, and suddenly one of the little girls from the painting appeared in front of it. At least, that was who I assumed it to be, but her eyes were missing and blood was running down her face like tears. Her form was flickering between a solid girl and a more ghostlike figure.

"_Kokuyoku, it's happening again_!" she cried. "_Save Meikano_! _Save Meikano_!" She held her head in her hands and commenced to screaming again.

"I told you not to call me that," Dark scolded her, kneeling down so that he was more to her level.

"_Dark_, _save Meikano_! _Help_!" the girl corrected herself.

"_This_ is the problem," Dark told us. "Her sister is dead – well, they're both dead – but the other one keeps coming back and reattaching herself..."

"Siamese twins," I figured it out. I looked at the picture again. "That's why their heads are together in the painting..."

"Ya _think_?" Dark rolled his eyes at me, then turned back to the girl, who was now linked with her twin again, and screaming louder.

"_Get it off_!!"

"Shhh... Meikano, it'll go away in a minute. Just stop screaming, okay?" Dark stroked the small girl's hair, murmuring things to her until she calmed down, and the other twin was separated from her.

"Now Meiko's head hurts again, Dark," she whimpered.

I could see why. It was gushing blood. I could feel my face scrunching up in disgust. "I suppose that's how they died."

"That's what I figured," Dark said. He paused for a moment, bringing the little eyeless girl into his arms. "Meikano, can you tell me what the thing's name is?"

"It doesn't have a name. It's just It." Then the girl's eyebrows rose higher on her forehead, disappearing under her long, straight-cut bangs. "Rita!" She began to cry, burying her face in Dark's jacket, covering her head with her arms. "Rita's gone, Dark! Meikano has no Rita! Where is Rita!?"

I watched as Emiko took Meikano from Dark's arms into her own. Immediately, the girl ceased crying and almost seemed to stare directly at the Niwa woman. "Hi, Meikano."

"Mommy? Mommy, Meikano is missing Rita!"

"Hush, dear. Rita will be just fine." Ignoring the blood even better than Dark had been able to, Emiko ruffled the girl's hair. "But I'm not your mommy. My name is Emiko."

"Emiko looks like Mommy," Meikano said.

Both Emiko and I were astounded.

"She can see?" I looked over at Dark for an answer.

"It would appear so," he said.

The little girl giggled. "Meikano _knows_," she sang, tapping her finger to her head. "Rita knows, too. Where has Rita gone? Rita should be right _here_." Starting with her palm flat on the damaged part of her head, she swung her arm out beside her to show where her twin would normally be.

"I don't know what to tell her about her sister..." Dark sounded guilty. "They're both ghosts, but... that one appears to be a pretty _dead_ ghost – however much _that _makes sense..."

I went over to the girl who was lying on the floor and picked her up. "Rita." My voice sounded uncertain, so I focused for a while and tried again. "Rita, wake up. Meikano doesn't know where you are," I told her. I felt stupid for talking to something that looked so lifeless. It was like talking to some kind of grotesque doll.

Miraculously, Rita shook her head carefully. "No, Meikano always knows... just like Rita always knows. _Always_ know," she emphasized. "You would have Rita call you Krad," she said next. "Rita _knows_..."

"Uh... Yes. I would," I said.

"Rita knows _more_ now than Meikano knows. Yes," she said.

"I think we should keep them separate until Kosuke comes back," Emiko suggested.

I looked down at Rita, who was looking surprisingly content for a little girl with a serious head wound and cataracts that almost made her eyes look white – she hadn't had that problem _before_ she died, judging by the portrait. "Can you stay away from your sister for a while?" I asked her.

She rested her head against my chest and closed her eyes. "Rita thinks so..."

Dark gave me one of those odd looks he did every time I smiled – but this time I wasn't smiling.

"What?" I demanded, confused.

"Oh, nothing," Dark looked away from me, feigning innocence.

Emiko glared.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Eleventh Part: Dark...

Kosuke had gotten a real surprise when he returned home. Immediately, he began looking up any information he could about the girls.

I really hoped he could find something good. I didn't want to seal the artwork and loose them...

I glanced over at Krad again, who was sitting on the couch with Rita on his lap. He was asking her question after question, wondering at the intelligence of a girl that looked to be about five years old, give or take. I liked seeing him interact that well with someone other than me.

"Krad likes Rita's new eyes – Krad just doesn't want to admit it," Rita said gleefully.

It seemed the girls completely past the freaking-out stage. Now they seemed just like any other ordinary little kid – except, of course, for the wounds on their heads from separation and the weird deal with their eyes. They didn't even notice that part, though, as far as I could tell.

"Your eyes are unnatural," Krad told her.

"Krad's eyes are _exotic_!" Rita enthusiastically emphasized the last word. "Rita likes Krad's eyes a lot!"

A crooked, awkward sort of smile crept onto Krad's face. "You shouldn't be _able_ to see my eyes."

"Rita _knows_!" she insisted. Rita giggled. "Dark is looking at Krad again. Dark better run!" She waved her tiny hand at me.

Shaking my head at the girl, I waved back and turned to find Emiko and Meikano. I favored Meikano over Rita, although I had grown to like both girls. Meikano was the first one I had talked to, and the first one who had reacted to me. Her bloody eye sockets still gave me the creeps, but I was even starting to get over that.

"Dark is coming!" she squealed. "Emiko, put Meikano down!"

Emiko laughed to herself and set Meikano down on the floor. I knelt down and she ran over to me in the wobbly way that little kids do, and when she got to me I scooped her up into my arms. Meikano smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Meikano is happy Dark is back!" she exclaimed.

"She really likes you," Emiko said.

Meikano nodded. "Dark likes Meikano, too!"

"Of course I do," I told her.

She beamed. "Meikano was telling Emiko about how Dark saved Meikano. Dark is _awesome_! Dark has wings and Dark can _fly_ – just like a _bird_! Whoosh!" she demonstrated, swooping one arm out to the side. The other was around my neck.

"You're sure a hyper little thing, aren't you?" I commented.

"Meikano feels good! Meikano can move her head _aaaalll_ around now!" She rolled her head back and to the side, and forward, and around to the other side. "See?"

I laughed at her enthusiasm. "You're pretty good at that."

"Yep!" Meikano tilted her head to the side. Her eyelids came down in an odd way and her adorable little smile got bigger.

Kosuke came back from his research. "Well, I found some of what we were looking for," he said.

Meikano's eyelids came up again and she frowned, turning her face toward me and pointing at the stranger questioningly.

"That's Kosuke," I told her. "He's married to Emiko."

"Ohhh. Hi, Kosuke!" she greeted him, smiling again.

"Hi, there," Kosuke said pleasantly. "You must be Meikano."

Meikano looked up at me again and whispered, "Does Kosuke know, too?"

I laughed again. "No, Meikano. Kosuke knows a lot of things, but not the same way you and Rita do."

"Meikano has no Rita," she informed Kosuke. "Has Kosuke seen Rita?"

Kosuke looked up at me. "You didn't tell her about Rita?"

"Dark, what is Kosuke talking about?" Meikano asked me. "What did Dark not say about Rita?"

"Rita is here, Meikano," I told her. "She's with Krad."

Meikano screamed. "_Why did Dark not tell Meikano Rita was here_!? _Meikano did not_ know!"

Kosuke took Meikano from me and calmed her down. "Meikano, Rita was kept a secret on purpose," he informed her. "You need to be away from her for a while so we can figure out a solution to you problem. Do you want to know why the two of you got separated?"

Meikano sniffed pitifully and nodded, wrapping her little arms around Kosuke's neck. It hurt to have her scream directly at me like that, but I didn't say anything. "Meikano wants to know," she said.

"Well, you and your sister had a terrible accident one day, and you were killed," Kosuke told her, avoiding any gruesome details he may have found. "Did you see that portrait Dark took?"

Meikano nodded. "Daddy painted it. Daddy said Mommy and Daddy were sorry that Meikano and Rita had to be stuck together, but Meikano and Rita didn't mind. Daddy called the picture _Gomenasai_, anyway. _Gomenasai_ is a good picture."

"That's right," Kosuke said. "Well, when you and Rita died, you got stuck in the picture."

"How did Meikano and Rita get stuck?" she wondered.

"I don't know exactly. _Gomenasai_ had power and it wanted you there where you could be happy again," he tried to explain it to her.

Meikano nodded. "Meikano understands. Meikano knows, now."

"Do Meikano and Rita have to be connected again, somehow, or will they heal because of the artwork?" I asked him. I wanted Kosuke to confirm the latter, but I tried not to get my hopes up. If I was completely out of luck, I would have to seal the girls away forever.

"Meikano is sorry she yelled at Dark," she said, reaching out for me to hold her again.

"Should I bring Rita over?" Krad asked from where the two of them still sat on the couch.

"Go ahead," Kosuke told him. "As long as they stay calm, they shouldn't have any more of those episodes you told me about. Meikano and Rita should be able to just be ordinary identical twins, now, I think."

I grinned. "We might just get to keep you around, squirt," I told Meikano, tweaking her nose.

She laughed and pushed my hand away.

Krad came up to stand next to me with Rita in his arms again. She was playing with his hair. "Will you stop that, already?" he scolded her, untwisting her fingers from the long gold strands.

"I just hope you can handle them," Emiko said. "Children are a huge responsibility."

"You mean they're staying with us?" Krad looked back down at Rita unsurely. "I don't know..."

Rita giggled again. "Krad likes Rita. Rita likes Krad," she chanted. "Krad likes Dark..."

"...and Dark likes Krad," Meikano finished her sister's sentence. They both giggled. "Meikano is gonna miss Meikano's old mommy and daddy," she sighed.

"Rita, too," Rita agreed.

They were actually silent for a while.

Krad and I looked at each other strangely.

"Did you just get us into... what I_ think _you did...?" Krad asked me.

I shook my head slowly for a while, then began to laugh. I laughed, and laughed, Emiko glared at Krad, Krad glared at me, and I just laughed some more.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Now, some of you may be wondering where Daisuke and Towa happened to be in all this mess – well, I don't know. I think Daisuke went to see a movie with Riku that night, but you'll have to ask him when you see him. Towa could be just about anywhere else in the house – probably listening to Daikii talk on and on about something, seeing as he wasn't around, either.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Twelfth Part: Krad...

"Meikano is tired," she told Dark, yawning.

"Rita is tired, too," Rita agreed. "Rita needs sleep."

"_Where_ do they sleep?" I asked Dark. "You're kind of running out of rooms..."

"I think they can sleep with us – at least for tonight," Dark suggested. "You know... until we figure out something else..."

I sighed. So much for attempt number two.

"I'm starting not to like you, darling," I told Rita bitterly. "If you and your sister didn't _know_ so much, your new eyes might just have worked to an advantage..."

Rita shook her head at me, tossing her hair. "Krad is icky. Rita _knows_... too much, Rita thinks."

Dark raised an eyebrow at me, smirking. "Be careful what you think around our girls, Krad. You'll scar them for life."

Meikano poked Dark's face. "Meikano knows, too..." She looked over at her sister with a rather demure expression on her face.

I laughed. "I'd say that goes for you, too, Dark."

"Oh, shut up."

I turned my attention back to Rita curiously. "How old are you, Rita?" I inquired.

"Rita is old," she said. "Rita _understands_."

"Meikano understands, too. Meikano and Rita can't count on Meikano and Rita's fingers anymore – Not enough." Meikano went back to tilting her head from side to side, testing out her new freedoms.

"Really?" Dark held her head still.

"Yep!" Meikano chimed, looking up at him and grinning. She twisted one of her little braids around her finger. "Meikano is all grown up now!"

"Rita, too!" Rita told me. "Meikano! Meikano! New Year's is almost here!"

Meikano paused, tilting her head again. "Veerrry soon!" she said excitedly.

"How soon?" Dark asked them, looking around somewhere for a clock to test their knowledge.

"Very!" Meikano insisted.

"Five..." Rita started.

"Four..." Meikano said.

"Three... Two... One!" the girls announced together. "Happy New Year!!"

Dark adored them. I could tell it by the look on his face, the way he interacted with them – Meikano, at least – and I knew that they were definitely not going anywhere. I looked back down at Rita, who smiled sweetly at me. She yawned, then, and nuzzled her face against my chest.

An awkward smile slipped onto my face again.

But it disappeared when Dark commented, "You make a surprisingly good parent."

"We are _not_ parents," I argued.

Dark laughed slightly. "Well, the girls both seem to think so. Like it or not, they're ours now."

I wanted to beat the look of Dark's face, but I didn't want to wake Rita back up. I glared at him. "They may be living with us, but they are _not_ _our _daughters, Dark!"

Dark just continued to grin smugly at me, as if to say, 'Give it up, Krad. You can't win _this _argument.' I gave him a withered look.

By now, Meikano had fallen asleep as well.

"We should probably get them to bed," Dark considered.

Sighing, I got up. "Probably."

. . .

We let the girls sleep in our bed, but I refused to sleep there with them, although Dark saw no problem with it. I grabbed a blanket and headed out of the room again.

Dark caught my arm. "Where do you think you're going?" he interrogated me.

"I'm sleeping on the couch," I told him. "You can either come with me or not."

I felt Dark's had slide around the back of my neck and he kissed me. "Of course I'll come with you. I'll sleep with you anywhere for the rest of our lives!" he told me enthusiastically.

That made me laugh. I kissed Dark back and he guided me out of the room, pushing the door closed behind him with his foot. He shoved me against a wall and his hands crept up under my shirt, pushing it higher up on my chest. I dropped the blanket I had been about to carry out to the couch and pulled the shirt off, tossing that to the floor as well.

"Are you going to be ready to do this, this time?" Dark whispered teasingly against my jaw.

I groaned in dismay. "What if Rita wakes up?" I reminded him.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Krad. Don't –"

"Or _Meikano_?"

Dark groaned in much the same was as I had. Meikano was easily the thief's favorite. He picked up my shirt and tossed it at me. "Come on," he said. "Let's just get some sleep."

I snarled under my breath and followed him to living-room, where he proceeded to pull off his bloody sweater and the t-shirt he was wearing under it.

Dark walked over to me and brushed his hand over my face.

"What was _that_ for?" I wondered.

"I'm trying to wipe that nasty scowl off of your face," he joked.

I rolled my eyes at him and fell onto the couch, brushing my bangs back out of my face and looking up at the ceiling.

Dark positioned himself on top of me, resting his head on his hands which were folded over my stomach. "There's always another night," he said.

I sighed and reached down to comb my fingers through his soft violet hair. "There could be... That all depends..."

"Yeah..."

We both were thinking of Meikano and Rita.

"Good night, Dark," I said, and fell asleep to the feeling of his fingers lightly stroking my side.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Thirteenth Part: Dark...

Sure enough, Krad's baby woke up looking for him – of course, then so did mine. Meikano and Rita were holding hands, and with their free hands were nudging us awake.

"Dark?" came her little voice, sounding sheepish. "Can Dark get Meikano a glass of water?"

Just like a little kid. How typical.

I opened my eyes slowly to look at her – and that got me awake fast. She still looked like a doll from a horror movie. The effect worked even better in the dark room.

"Of course I can," I said, mussing her hair.

Meikano's mouth formed a small half-smile. "If Meikano wasn't so short, Meikano would get it herself," she said.

Rita was telling Krad the same story.

"Don't worry about it," I told him, crawling off of him and standing up to stretch. "I'll take care of it. You two stay here with Krad," I told the girls. "I'll be right back."

"Rita and Meikano thank Dark," Rita said, and Meikano nodded.

I headed off to the kitchen for a minute and brought two glasses of water back out with me, but the girls only took one of them. Each of them grabbed it with one hand, still linked together with their other hands. They smiled and thanked me again with their odd third-person speech, taking the water back with them to our room to share it.

I stared after them, vaguely wondering how they would open the bedroom door again if they had closed it behind them.

I set the second glass on the coffee table and laid back down on the couch with Krad.

"They are some odd little people," I remarked, yawning.

"Yes, they are..."

. . .

Emiko found us in the morning...

"How many times do we have to go through this, Emiko!?" I shouted at her.

It was another of those long, pointless arguments between the two of us. In the midst of it, Rita and Meikano came out of our room again looking on the verge of crying.

Krad came between us, glaring fiercely at Emiko, and another screaming match began until everyone who lived in that house was crowded around, trying to stop us fighting – except for Daikii, who sided with Emiko.

"_STOP IT_!!" Meikano finally screeched at us, pushing on Emiko's leg to try to get her away from her new parents. She had an enormous voice for such a small girl. "_Meikano's head is hurting_!!" she shouted. "_Stop fighting_!"

"Mom, Grandpa, stop bothering them," Daisuke added in a more pleading manner. "They haven't been doing anything wrong."

"Rita wants Emiko and Daikii to stop pestering Krad!" she demanded, pointing at her. "And Dark!"

Meikano crossed her arms in front of her and nodded once, staring hard at our prosecutors with non-existent eyes.

Surprisingly enough, Emiko backed off.

Daikii looked more stunned than anything. "Meikano and Rita?" he wondered. "I think I've heard those names before..."

"Daikii Niwa does _not _know Rita and Meikano," Rita said firmly.

"Where did these girls come from, anyway?" Daisuke wondered, noticing their garish injuries.

"The painting," I told him, since he hadn't been there when all the chaos had been going on.

Daikii insisted he remembered them from somewhere, and both Rita and Meikano insisted that he certainly did not. They were having their own little argument until Krad and I each picked up our respective twin and made them stop.

"It was a story in the news," Daikii said. "Two little girls died. I remember!"

"Daikii Niwa does not know Meikano!" Meikano said.

"Shush," I told her. "What exactly happened to them, then, if you know so much?" I asked Daikii.

"I... don't remember," Daikii gave up. "But I know I heard about it... a long time ago..."

I rolled my eyes at the old man.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

So... still no lemon and still no explanation. Sorry, guys, but that's just how it's working out...


	14. Chapter 14

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Fourteenth Part: Krad...

When Dark wasn't busy stealing other artworks, he and I were researching _Gomenasai_'s history or some such thing. I was curious to know what Rita and Meikano had gone through before their death – their heads had both completely healed, but their eyes, I figured, would never – but I was getting frustrated with it all.

First of all, when I was home, Rita didn't want to let me out of her sight – in a manner of speaking. Meikano clung to Dark in much the same way, and when he was gone, I was stuck with her, too. I was about to take Dark up on his offer and go with him each night to steal art just to catch a break – I thought about making Towa babysit them, but she was just as busy as the thief, if not more so.

While I fumed over this one night, Rita came up to me and tugged on my pant-leg. I looked down at her and she flinched. Apparently, I had been scowling without really realizing it.

"Rita is sorry," Rita said.

She pulled her sister over to her. "Meikano wants to tell _Dark_ sorry," the other girl objected. Then Meikano sighed after Rita gave her a good shove toward me. "Meikano is also sorry," she relented.

I knelt down more to their level. "Sorry for what?" I asked them.

"Meikano is sorry Dark is so busy," Meikano told me.

"And Rita is sorry Rita _knows_," she said.

"Rita and Meikano are sorry Dark and Krad are miserable!" they chorused, and rushed forward to wrap their little arms around me.

I didn't know exactly how to respond to that...

. . .

Dark came trudging through the door with his latest steal and literally dropped the artwork to the floor. "I never thought I'd be saying this," he announced, "but I'm getting damn tired of doing this!!"

Towa walked into the room just then, presumably with news of another one, but she backed off when she saw how irritated the thief was. The girls both crept back to hide behind me, peering around my legs.

Dark really did look tired. "Daisuke, you're taking over for me, got it? The next artwork that shows up is yours and With's problem," he said. He walked off to the couch and sat with his elbows propped on his knees and his hands twisted back through his hair.

There was a silence that followed which was thick with astonishment and disbelief. Apparently no one thought that Dark could get tired of stealing.

"Dark doesn't want to be busy _every_ night!" Meikano told them, frowning poutily. She was going to continue talking them down for her favorite one of us, but I took her hand and pulled her away from the Niwas over to Dark. She snatched Rita's hand, too, as we went, sticking her tongue out at the others over her shoulder.

"You might want to handle this next one, though, Dark..." Towa told him after a while, breaking the group's frozen silence.

He glared up at her. "And why is that?" he wondered, picking Meikano up and setting her on the couch next to him.

Towa looked at me. "Because... _Krad_ made it!"


	15. Chapter 15

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Fifteenth Part: Dark...

I turned my gaze slowly onto Krad. "I knew that thing would be a problem," I growled. I almost laughed, standing up and shoving hard at his chest. "It's probably what _started_ this mess!"

He shoved me back. "Well you _could_ have _stopped_ me!" he argued. "It's _your_ fault just as much as it is mine!"

"It is _not_!" I shouted. "_I_ have absolutely _nothing _to do with it!"

"Yes you_ do_!" he shouted at me. I saw gold magic building up in his palms – magic I hadn't seen in a long while. "You have _everything_ to do with it!"

Krad raised his arm to throw the magic at me, but I caught his wrist and held him where he was. "Do _not_ try to blame this on me!" I snarled back at him.

"Why shouldn't I?" he challenged. "_Everything_ here revolves around you! Everything is _always_ about the 'Phantom Thief' _Dark_!" Krad twisted his arms out of my grasp and punched me right in the face.

My head shot to the side and I discovered I had a bloody nose as a result of the attack. He grabbed me by the collar next and I was genuinely confused when I thought he was going to kiss me – he did, but then he bit down hard on my lower lip.

"And you always do whatever you want! You're damn spoiled, Mousy – and it's good to see you finally suffer!" he shouted at me, pushing me away again.

Emiko was about to go after him, but he shoved her to the side with one smooth motion and she stumbled back, landing on the floor. Krad shoved past the rest of them quickly without a single glitch in his stride and left the Niwa house, slamming the door behind him – so hard that I almost expected the thick slab of wood to break.

I was officially stunned, frozen in place as if I had been carved out of stone.

The girls were crying, but even though they were still on the couch close by, I could barely hear them.

. . .

After taking a long, scorching shower, I examined my face in the mirror. I knew why he'd bitten me like that to get his point across. I really had started this whole mess, hadn't I? It was all about that first kiss in the Mirror world – or at least it seemed like it.

I ran my finger across the teeth-marks and winced when the touch stung.

"Dark?" There came a timid knocking at the bathroom door, accompanied by Meikano's voice. "Rita wants to know when Krad is coming back," she said.

Sighing, I got dressed and opened up the door to scoop her up in my arms. "Meikano wants to know, too," she sniffed.

I looked around for Rita, and found her standing on a stack of books to look out the window. She turned to me. "Rita can't see Krad," she said. "Rita doesn't know where Krad is..." Rita hopped off of the books and tromped over to me to hit my leg. "Dark made Krad go away," she accused, "but Krad just loves Dark! Krad was jealous of Dark! ...Rita doesn't like Dark anymore."

Rita began to walk away, but I set Meikano down and caught her before she could get to the door. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked her, setting her on the bed next to her sister.

"Rita is going to find Krad!" she said stubbornly, sliding back off of the bed.

"No, you're not," I argued, returning her to her sister again. "Don't worry so much. Krad will be back." I tried to sound convincing.

Rita pounded on the bed once with her little fists and glared up at me with supposedly-blind eyes. "How can Dark _know_!" she yelled. "Dark _doesn't_ know!"

Meikano hugged her sister and tried to make her calm down, even though I could tell that she was thinking along those same lines.

I knelt down on my knees in front of them and took one of their hands each in mine. Rita had her head bowed and wouldn't look at me anymore. I tilted her chin up a little. "I _know_," I told her, "because _I_ am going to go _find_ him."

Meikano hugged me and I nearly broke out into a run, bolting from the house in search of Krad.

I was going to find him whether he liked it or not.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

I have a picture of Meikano and Rita!! http : / / artbymariahlamour . synthasite . com / fanfiction (It's at the bottom of the page - just take the spaces out of the URL and you should find it).


	16. Chapter 16

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Sixteenth Part: Krad...

I flew to the part where I had built that creation of snow, and was greeted by a white figure that moved as slowly and freely as the falling snow – understandably.

"I had wondered when you would come back for me," it said in a voice that seemed to come from nowhere in particular, although the thing's lips moved with the words.

"I came to destroy you," I told it bluntly.

"That's harsh..." It moved over to me and touched its frozen hand gently to my face. "Will you tell me why, at least? Why should I be destroyed, when I was only just created? A month is quite a short life span for a Hikari piece..."

"Why should I care for your life span?" I spat. "I'm no longer part of the Hikari."

"But Hikari or not," it said, looking at me with distant, white eyes that were almost invisible against the rest of the face, "you created me."

I smacked its hand away from my face, which now burned with the cold. "I hadn't known you would breathe life of your own accord!"

"Not mine. Yours..."

"Shut up." I was going to knock its head off if it kept drifting around me like it did – the movements reminded me of a predator, circling its prey. I refused to be prey to anything! ...or any_one_...

"Thinking of the thief again, aren't you?" it guessed, stopping behind me and sliding its arms around my shoulders. "Don't. It will do you no good. You should stay away from him..."

"Why is _everyone_ in this damn world saying that!!?" In a sudden rage, I spun around, slicing my arm right through the middle of him, breaking the thing in half – which did nothing. In an odd whirl of snow, it reassembled itself. In another flurry of the same kind, it rematerialized behind me again.

"It isn't right," the artwork told me in that lofty voice. "It wasn't supposed to happen – never – and you know it."

"_What_ do I know!?" I shouted at it. "I know _nothing_ of what you're saying! Dark and I can be together if we want to!!"

I shot a blast of magic at it, wanting it to simply die and leave me alone – and to leave Dark alone.

I missed, and it materialized inches from my face.

"If Dark wants to," it taunted me. "You can never get anything you want unless Dark cooperates, can you?" Its voice seemed to echo all around me.

"Stop it..." I said, my voice low.

It moved its face close to my ear. I flinched away from the cold but it held me in place by my shoulder. Then it stroked my face lightly. "You want Dark to pay more attention to you..."

"Yes," I whispered. "But you're the one preventing him, aren't you?" I accused. The angry tension in my body was building. I could feel my magic accumulating. I wanted to blow this thing to bits. _Why_ had I created it?

"I am," it said.

"Why?" My voice was barely audible.

"I am doing what's best for you... Don't chastise me for that."

I thought I heard something familiar through the surrounding flow of the thing's voice... but I couldn't place exactly what it was... A constant rumble, or a growl...

"By keeping the thief busy, he won't have time for you. You should stay away..."

Suddenly a great, blinding explosion of violent, violet magic sent the thing streaming away from me.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!"

I looked over to the source of the voice.

Dark's voice.

Dark was raging mad as I was, but for completely different reasons. "What were you thinking, running off like that!?" he yelled at me.

"I was thinking I would get away from you!" I shouted back at him. The energy still reserved to terminate the artwork was nearly shot at Dark.

The artwork came at him so I blasted it. That didn't actually harm it, but I felt better for being able to at least _try_ to kill something.

Dark muttered something under his breath and shot more magic at the thing once it had rematerialized. It froze in mid-air as it was lunging at Dark, crashing to the ground in a heap. Kicking it, the thief snarled, "Take _that _you ignorant piece of –"

"I could have handled that _myself_!" I yelled, lunging at him as well and knocking him to the ground, where I began hitting him mercilessly. But as he began to bleed for the second time that night, something else began to fall on the thief's face – and it wasn't rain or snow.

"Krad, stop it!" He finally managed to grab a hold of my wrists and stopped me from beating on him any more. "What's gotten into you!? Stop..."

I sucked in a deep breath of cold air and it came back out sounding strangled as I choked on nothing and felt the painful tug all throughout my chest. I couldn't speak, and more tears fell from my face onto that of a worried, confused, beautiful, violet-eyed thief.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, letting go of one of my wrists to touch my face. "Krad, I had to seal it –" I shook my head violently and he stopped talking for a moment. "...I love you," he told me, then.

"I used to think so," I remarked, letting another sob tear its way out of my throat.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dark looked almost panic-stricken. "Of course I love you! How could you doubt that – and the girls both love you, too. They miss you. What are you so upset about?"

"So you came for Meikano..." That was all I could pick out from what he was saying.

"No!" He grabbed a hold of my arms and shook me. "_Listen_ to me! I came here for _you_, damnit!" Dark searched my face for something that obviously wasn't there. "Can I kiss you!?" he asked at last.

"You're _asking_ me?" I could have laughed.

"Yeah! I am!" He was completely serious.

Spitefully, I got up and turned my back on him, walking away purposefully in any direction other than where he might be going.

"Krad! Wait!" he called after me, running to catch up to me. When Dark reached me, he wrapped his arms securely around me, pressing his face against my shoulder. "What do you want?" he mumbled against my shirt.

My tears were freezing on my skin.

"Come home," he pleaded. "Come home with me, Krad." Dark pressed his lips against my neck in a gesture that was almost a kiss, but not quite. "You're so cold..." he whispered.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_ [**M**] - This chapter might be rated for content – or at least the next one will be, if not this one...

...Seventeenth Part: Krad...

I tried to resist Dark. I tried to resist his lips against my throat and his arms holding me so tightly and yet so carefully, as if I were going to break at any moment.

But by resisting him, I was doing just what the artwork had wanted me to.

And I didn't want to do that.

Dark had grown silent, just continuing to hold me to him. He didn't even try to kiss me anymore. _Dark _didn't kiss me.

"Did you bring your motorcycle here?" I asked him. My voice had a hard time getting started again, but I managed to speak loud enough that Dark could hear me.

I didn't see it, but I could tell that the thief began to smile. "Yeah. I did. Want a ride?" he asked, resting his chin on my shoulder more casually.

The tension had passed, and for that, I was glad.

I turned in Dark's hold and caught his lips in a savoring kiss that was a simple reminder – more to myself than anyone – that he was still mine. "Now more than ever," I admitted.

Letting me out of his embrace, Dark ran to his bike, and I chased close behind him, straddling the vehicle after him and wrapping my arms around his waist. Before starting it up, he put his hand on my thigh and turned to look at me over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Krad," he told me. "For yelling at you earlier, and –"

"Dark, stop it."

"Stop what?"

"I don't need your apologies," I told him. "I may have more to say 'I'm sorry' for than you do – Now just drive."

Giving me a knowing smirk, he started up the motorcycle, and the thing began its familiar growling.

There was just something about the two of us...

"We make an odd pair," I remarked.

"Are you still going to insist I'm the strangest of us?" Dark laughed.

"You don't honestly think I'm going to say something like that about _myself_!" I said, in much the same way someone else would say, '_Duh_!'

...We could always be expected to come back together at some point.

. . .

"Dark...?" I couldn't believe I was about to ask something so stupid, but something was getting to me that I couldn't ignore any longer.

"Hmm?"

"Does your motorcycle _have_ to vibrate so much?" It hadn't ever occurred to me how awkward riding with the thief could be. Dark was sitting between my legs, and the whirr of the engine made the whole machine vibrate against my thighs.

Dark glanced over his shoulder at me with a curious expression. "Uhm... _Why_...?"

To answer him, I pressed closer to his back, suppressing a light moan as I did so.

"Oh," he realized, and I knew he could feel the evidence of my sudden lust for him. "Well, that would be a little strange if the girls saw you..." he considered.

"We don't have to go home yet..." I agreed in a similarly contemplative tone.

"Aren't you afraid they'll _know_, anyway?" Dark taunted.

I glared at his back half-heartedly. "Remember what Rita said – about their being old?" I stated. "I think they'll be fine... And _you_ wouldn't want to waste a possible opportunity, would you?" My voice had become thick and predator-like again – an altered version of the sadistic tone I used to have before our trip through the world of the Mirror. My hands crept up under his jacket and shirt to touch his skin, which was comparatively warmer than my frozen fingers.

He pushed at my wrists to get them away. "Damnit, Krad – wait until we actually get somewhere, will ya?"

I laughed. "Where are we going?" I wondered, tickling his stomach in little swirling patterns with my fingertips.

Dark pulled the bike over in front of the very hotel I had once been thrown out of. "Right here," he told me, hopping off of the vehicle and literally pulling me off of it, grabbing me by the waist.

I held myself upright by clinging to his shoulders, and once I regained my footing, he swung his arm behind my knees and lifted me right off of the ground again. Somehow, he managed to get me through the doors with keeping my head and legs unscathed – a feat that I had deemed questionable at best – and carried me into the hotel.

"Hold on tight," he laughed, and removed the arm that supported my back for a moment to pick up a card-key and pay for one night in one of the rooms. He thanked the puzzled employee and headed off to our room, where he set me down on one of the beds and immediately crawled onto it with me.

We kicked off our shoes and socks, letting them clatter to the floor wherever they may, and Dark pulled my shirt off of me, tossing it with them. His lips closed down on mine with a passion I hardly recognized. Our mouths moved together heatedly until our lungs burned with a lack of oxygen. I pulled Dark's shirt off over his head and threw it to the floor while we were busy gasping for air, and then the thief came back to lick my lower lip and kiss the corner of my mouth.

"I missed you," he breathed.

I nodded in response and, tangling my hands through his hair, pulled him back to where I wanted him. Dark's tongue slipped into my mouth to join our kiss, engaging in a sensual and lustful battle with mine. I thought my lips would go numb before we stopped, but Dark broke away from my mouth again, this time to find that spot on my neck that drove me crazy, sucking, biting, and licking at my skin until it was a nice deep shade of red and liable to turn several other unnatural colors later.

My senses were swimming in ecstasy. I moaned softly as Dark dragged his tongue up the length of my neck and his fingers brushed over one of the pert nipples on my chest. My spine arched to meet him and, wrapping my arms around him to feel the smooth muscles in his back, I kissed his neck, managing to find a spot somewhere along his jaw that had the same effect his explorations had on me when he kissed me. I heard a clipped gasp from him – something that sounded like it got stuck in his throat – and he groaned when I lingered there.

Dark slid his arm around my back and rolled on the bed, pulling me over on top of him. This gave me more freedom to touch him. I could run my hands all over his body, knowing that he was mine and no one else's...


	18. Chapter 18

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_ [**M!**] - Definitely.

...Eighteenth Part: Dark...

"Dark?" Krad was busy tracing random patterns all over my skin, stroking his hands along my body seemingly to make sure he knew and could memorize every inch of my torso.

"What's up?" I wondered, kissing his forehead as he slid him hands along my arms to mine and twining our fingers together.

He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "I love you."

"Well, it's about time," I joked.

Krad pulled his hair all out of order and I heard the cross that was usually attached to it fall to the floor with a dull _clink_. He grinned at me through strands of the waterfall of sleek blond hair that framed his handsome figure, and rolled us back over so that I was on top of him again.

"I've realized..." he said, tangling his fingers through his hair and stretching his shoulders back, which made his chest arch upward, and turning his head to the side to absently examine the mass of gold threads. He looked insanely vulnerable. "...all I've ever wanted, Dark... has been you."

"And why are you bringing this up now?" I wondered, puzzled under the fierce restraint I had on myself while staring at the position he chose to lay in.

"Because," he said, smiling faintly again – that truly happy smile I still wasn't used to seeing – "I finally got what I wanted."

I laughed, leaning over him to kiss him again. "And you know what I got out of all this?" I asked him.

"Hmm?"

A wide grin made its way onto my face. "I finally have a relationship where I don't have to turn into Daisuke at the most inopportune moments."

Krad laughed, too. "That has nothing to do with me," he said.

I shrugged. "Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't."

He shook his head at me, giving me a strange look.

"Now stop talking," I muttered, kissing him again. "Because I think you're just stalling."

"I am not stalling!" he argued matter-of-factly. Krad locked his arm around my neck again and kissed me for the however-many-eth time that night. He dragged his foot up my leg and over my backside, wrapping his leg around my waist. I shivered and pulled away from our kiss, ducking out of his hold and moving his leg off me again so that I could shift down to pull his jeans off of him.

. . .

Once Krad and I were both undressed, I came back to lie beside him. Krad hooked his leg over my waist again, but I could see the look of uncertainty on his face.

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts... again," I said, brushing some hair back from his face.

"I'm fine," he assured me. "I'm just... nervous..." He shifted uncomfortably, pressing closer against me.

"Are you sure?" I wondered.

"Of course I am..." He was scowling at my chest.

But if he was going to insist that he was willing, I didn't want to convince him otherwise. Sneaking my hand down between his legs, I stroked my fingers lightly along his thigh up to the tense entrance, making him gasp. "Relax," I said softly. "That's all you have to for me, okay? Just relax..."

"_Agh – nnnm_..." he moaned as I pushed a finger into his warm body.

I pressed my lips gently against his shoulder momentarily, eventually slipping a second finger in to join the first, and Krad winced. "I told you to relax," I reminded him.

Krad nodded, but I couldn't be completely sure that he knew what he was nodding to.

I moved my fingers around inside him, letting him get used to the feeling of being penetrated like that – although what he would be receiving in a moment would feel a lot different than a couple of fingers. And then I found that spot in him – that spot which sent a shudder through his whole body, and his eyes roll back slightly as he cried out from the obvious pleasure it gave him. Smirking, I rubbed my fingers over that spot again, liking the reaction I was getting.

Krad gasped and groaned with each other time I crossed over it. "_Dark_ – I – _ahn_...!"

Okay, time to stop that...

"Ready?" I whispered teasingly, seductively.

"Damnit, Dark!" he moaned. "_Yes_!"

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Yikes! – Hold on; it's not over just yet!


	19. Chapter 19

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_ [**M!**] – The last chapter requiring a Warning.

...Nineteenth Part: Krad...

Slowly, Dark pushed his way into my body, groaning with me as he did so. I sucked in a deep lungful of air, pushing my head back into the pillows and arching my back a little, letting the air back out in another low moan.

I could have thought of this position as demeaning, but... I didn't. The realization came to me then, as Dark embedded his hard member deeper in me, restraining himself from taking off to relieve himself until I, too, was ready and willing, that this time it was _him_ who needed _my_ cooperation. Even though I was lying beneath him, it was _he_ who was _trapped_ between _my_ legs. Anyone else might think my reasoning was all backward, but I rather thought it made perfect sense.

And now, I needed him to go for it.

I began to rock my hips, driving him as deep as he could possibly go, also letting him know that he could move whenever he damn well pleased or _sooner_.

So he did.

Dark pulled most of the way out of me again, only to thrust into the depths of my body once again. Over... and over...

My breathing – or panting, really; it could hardly be defined as breathing anymore – altered to match the pace of Dark's thrusts, and were accompanied by any sort of whimpers or gasps. My whole body seemed in tune to the same rhythm; my chest and shoulders heaving to accommodate for my rugged breath.

And there was nothing but that rhythm – the rhythm, the heat, and the overwhelming ecstasy that came with it.

Then the rhythm slowed for some reason, and I tried to glare at Dark – but failed miserably; only managing a more desperate expression – wanting it to speed up again.

Bruises sounded beautiful in my thoughts. It may be a masochistic streak, but if I was doing something with Dark, something in my brain told me that it would involve pain – whether or not I would enjoy it was a whole different matter.

"Harder," I gasped, startling the thief, by the look of it. "_Mousy_!" I whined.

His rhythm practically stopped, and I thought I was going to start crying of frustration, but then Dark hooked his arms under my legs, assuming I was flexible and leaning over me, pressing my thighs up against my stomach. With this new position, he seemed to be able to penetrate me deeper – or maybe the angle was simply altered, but it felt different, whatever the result. He started up that rhythm again, and this time it was faster than it had been. Dark adjusted and I cried out loudly – he was hitting that place inside me again. With every thrust he was hitting it and soon I went over the edge with the most amazing orgasm...

Dark followed close after me, collapsing on top of me.

We lay there, panting and gasping and reveling in the intense afterglow and overall exhaustion.

"Dark...?" I panted.

"Yeah?" he gasped.

"I love you."

Dark let out a short, breathy laugh. "I love... you... too."

"You... you were a virgin, too... weren't you...?" I guessed, a tired, sated smile crossing my face for a moment before the muscles in my face couldn't even hold that anymore.

"The _hell_ I was," he said.

I would have laughed.

Taking a deep, sighing breath, Dark pulled out of me to lay beside me. He lazily combed his fingers through my hair, gazing at me through dark, half-lidded eyes. "Third time's the charm," he remarked. "...You okay?"

I shook my head a bit. "Never better." I moved my hand to stroke his soft cheek. "I never thought I'd be telling you this, Mousy, but... you're amazing."

A smirk lit his face. "I know."

I sort-of-frowned at him and lightly whacked his face.

"Hey!" he protested.

I laughed slightly. And then the exhaustion attacked me again. "I'm tired," I said.

"I believe it."

Dark moved closer to me and we kissed each other briefly, falling asleep with our hands clasped together just moments afterward.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Oh... my freaking gods... _(stare)_ I... just wrote... a **lemon**! _(collapses)_

Whoa . . . _(muffled on the floor)_ I hope you all liked it...


	20. Chapter 20

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Twentieth Part: Krad...

"Daddy!" both the girls squealed the next day when we returned home. Meikano ran to Dark and Rita ran to me, and we each knelt down to capture the excited girls in our arms.

"Dark and Krad made up?" Meikano guessed hopefully.

"Of course, Silly," Rita said, reaching over to poke her sister playfully.

Meikano grinned.

Dark and I looked at each other uncertainly.

"Rita _knows_," she reminded me happily. "...most of the time, anyway," she added. Her smile transformed into a small frown. "Rita didn't know whether Krad would come back or not."

"Until later," Meikano said. "_Then_ Meikano and Rita knew." She nodded enthusiastically. "Meikano loves Dark and Krad!" she said, reaching out to touch her little hand to my shoulder.

"Rita does, too!" Rita agreed, mirroring her sister's gesture for Dark.

"Dark, where have you been!?" Emiko came into view, looking angry and really worried. And then she saw me. "You –"

"Emiko," he interrupted her. "Let it go."

"I was worried about you!" she exclaimed.

"I'm fine," he said as a smirk grew slowly on his face. It was funny to watch – at first, it looked like he was just going to smile, but then one corner of his lips stopped and the opposite just kept going, making the look very crooked.

"That's what Meikano and Rita _told_ Emiko!" they said. "Dark and Krad are perfect – together," they added. Meikano mimicked Dark's smirk in a way, and Rita just looked smugly at Emiko.

Emiko was speechless, looking from one girl to the other, from me to Dark, and from the girls to us. But behind the lingering worry she'd felt for Dark's absence and the lack of words for the girls, there was something else bubbling back up in her – Emiko Niwa would never stop hating me.

"You _didn't_..." her glare was fierce as ever.

She received n answer from any of the four of us; only equally fierce, defensive stares.

I saw the tears welling up in her eyes as her anger built. And finally she exploded. "GET OUT!" she shouted at me. "NOW!!"

"Emiko, Krad's not our enemy anymore!" Dark insisted, sounding severely disappointed, rather than upset.

I sighed heavily. "Fine," I said, startling them both. "I'll leave."

"What?" Dark didn't get it at all.

"No!" Rita shouted, not catching on to what I had planned, either. "Krad can't go!"

"Don't worry, darling," I told her, kissing her forehead lightly. "You're coming with me."

Now it was Meikano's turn to look panic-stricken. "Rita can't leave me!" she screamed. "I'm going, too!"

"Of course," I said. "Did you honestly think I would separate you from Rita?"

Meikano and Rita both grinned, suddenly catching on. "Awesome!" they exclaimed excitedly.

Dark looked at me for a long while. Then I saw that familiar smirk slip into his features once again. He turned to Emiko. "I guess we're going, then," he announced.

"I only want Krad to go!" Emiko protested. But it was out of her hands now.

"I'm not going to abandon my family, Emiko," Dark told her. "If they're leaving, then I'm going with them."

There was a look of betrayal in the Niwa woman's eyes. "But what about _this_ family!?"

"I have a new family," Dark explained. "Just like _you_ got a new family when you moved out of _your_ parents' house."

Emiko wasn't going to win. And she knew it.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Twenty-first Part: Dark...

I had convinced Emiko to let Krad remain in her house in peace until we found somewhere else to live. All the while, she kept trying to convince me to stay, but I wasn't going to give in. I was living with Krad and the girls, and that was all there was to it.

Needless to say, we got some awkward looks when we were out house-hunting. It's not every day two extremely sexy guys come looking for a house – in which they will live together, with their twin daughters, who are – in some odd form – psychics.

"Meikano likes this house!" she declared one day. She had figured that out just as we walked through the door of one possibility.

"Rita does, too!" Rita agreed, looking all around the room we were in.

The woman who was selling the house looked at the girls puzzlingly. "Do they say that for every house?" she wondered.

I shook my head. "This is the only one, actually."

"But... how can they know what they like if they can't see?"

Meikano turned her head up toward the woman stubbornly. "Meikano can see _just fine_, thank you!" she said, nodding once. "Hmph." She took Rita's hand and they went to take a look around.

"Long story," I told the realtor, who was watching, dumbfounded, as the girls ran through the nearest doorway.

The woman nodded slowly, and then began to tell us all about the house.

. . .

I may be claimed for life, now, but I was still good with women. By the end of our tour, I had figured out a lot about her, and instead of thinking our little family peculiar, she was curious. The three of us stood in the kitchen, just talking and waiting for the girls to finish their own evaluation and meet back with us.

"So... how did you guys get together?" she wondered.

"That's kind of a long story, too," Krad told her.

I laughed. "Yeah, it is."

"I suppose I have some time," she commented, glancing at her watch.

Giving Krad a contemplative look, I stuck to the basics. Looking back at the realtor, I gestured toward Krad with my thumb. "He just wouldn't leave me alone. We fell in and out of love a couple times, and now here we are," I summarized.

"Something like that," Krad said, sliding an arm around my waist.

"Daddy!" Meikano came running into the room, then, dragging her sister behind her. "Meikano thinks this house is perfect!" she exclaimed.

Krad picked Rita up and set her on the counter. "What do you think about it?" he asked her.

"Rita loves it!" she said. "And Rita found a wonderful room for Dark and Krad, too!"

"So... What's the verdict?" the realtor asked us, smiling at the girls' enthusiasm.

I looked at Krad and he nodded. "I think we'll take it," I told her.

And so... we had a house.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Children of the Mirror 3: Acceptance**_

...Twenty-second Part: Krad...

"Well, I think I'm tired," Dark announced. It was late one night; during our first week living in our new house. "Girls – off to bed," he told them, laughing.

"But Meikano and Rita aren't tired!" they protested.

"So?" Dark argued. "_I'm_ telling you otherwise. Now go."

"Awwww..." they whined, but obliged.

Rita came over to me and I picked her up, hugging her to me. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and kissed my face quickly, smiling. "Good night," she said sweetly.

Dark was getting the same from Meikano, and then swapping girls the whole routine started again.

"Good night, Meikano." I set her down and the sisters clasped their hands together, walking off to the room they insisted on sharing.

"Have fun!" Rita sang over her shoulder, waving to me before disappearing down the hall.

I looked at Dark, feeling confused. "What did she mean?" I wondered.

He cocked an eyebrow at me in an amused look. "Mmm... nothing," he said, coming over to me and resting his hands on my hips casually. "I was just thinking..." Dark pressed his body close against mine, rocking his own hips a bit. "...What do you say we make this house our own... officially?" he suggested.

"...That's not a bad idea," I relented, slipping my arms around his neck and letting one of those smiles that Dark liked to stare at so much glide onto my face. "When do we start?"

Dark kissed me deeply for a while, then he smirked, his lips still touching mine. "Right... _now_," he murmured.

"Perfect."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

There you go. One each ending – really! It's the end now. I'm sorry, but there's no more. _(trying to convince myself)_ – It's _over_!! I hope you guys liked my random little ending.


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